Steve Jobs and co. have announced Mac OS X Lion, version 10.7 of Apple's desktop operating system, which is due to be released next month.
Whilst Mac OS X used to $129 and purchased as a disc, Mac OS X Lion will only be available as a digital download, and for the much cheaper price of just $29.99.
Mac OS X Lion features an updated interface with more emphasis and support for multi-touch gestures, given that Apple's line of portables (Macbooks, Macbook Pro's and Macbook Airs) are outselling their desktop counterparts 3:1. There are also no scrollbars present in windows when using gestures, bringing the OS more inline with it's mobile sibling, iOS.
Exposé and Spaces are now unified in the all-new Mission Control which gives users a new way to manage their windows and space, which is especially appropriate given that the new OS has support for full-screen applications.
Resume and Auto-save are other new features that may just tip many to upgrade from 10.6, which allow users to pick up their applications right from where they were the last time they opened them, including window size and position, and even highlighted text. Auto-save is self-explanatory, but great to see this as a system-level feature.
The popular Mail app sees a major overhaul, with an iPad style widescreen layout with message down the left-hand side and the message viewer as a square area to the right. Searching has been vastly improved for more refined and efficient searching.
Mac OS X Lion will be released in July as a 4GB, $29.99 download via the Mac App Store.
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